BOOK REVIEW: FACE TO FACE BY ROBERT SANDERS

Reviewed by Betty Bedell

When I read Robert J. Sanders' novel Face To Face I knew after the first twenty pages this was a potential classic and by the time I put this exquisitely formed masterpiece down I was certain. Sanders sustains the power and brilliance of the narrative until the last word and the result is a gorgeous book about love, in its highest and purest form. He is a master of technique, dialogue and characterization.

I have been an editor for many years, founding editor of Kalliope, editor for some of the better writers today, and here is a first time novel by a priest and theologian, who also edited his book, that is brilliantly conceived and crafted. Jack McFarland, an Episcopal priest and missionary in Honduras, interacts with a splendid cast of characters, Sonia, Alicia, the Professor, and various others of "the poorest of the poor."

In an interview with Dr. Sanders I asked the author to tell me how his theological beliefs are married into the text and bodied forth in the lives and surroundings of the characters in this story of ordinary people caught in a web of corruption--social, economic, political, spiritual and ecclesiastical. Here are his words,

All my theology and hopes are poured into this book, the theology of Trinity and Incarnation. Face To Face begins with a short prologue, denoting creation by the Father as an original sense of the beauty of the world and love of family. This is followed by the Fall, a darkness that comes across existence and brings untold suffering. All these events were sensed "in the beginning," when Jack McFarland was ten years old.

After the prologue, we are plunged into life, the life redeemed by the Incarnation. Jack McFarland goes to Honduras, a little country on the edge of the world where the darkness is clearly seen. There he struggles with his own darkness, his sin, his broken soul, and all of this in the face of the corruption that devours the church, the economic system, the political order, and international relations. He comes to believe that he cannot resolve his own darkness, nor the suffering of the people around him.

But God is good, and into this darkness he sends his people--Alicia, the Professor, Sonia, great but flawed souls who lead the way to the Lord Jesus, who, to quote the Professor, 'entered into hell so that we might find heaven.' This is what Incarnation means.

As the novel approaches the end, the End is revealed in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is Eden restored, the eschatological banquet, the vision of God in a redeemed heaven and earth brought by the Holy Spirit who, to quote the Creed, brings the 'life of the world to come.'

This is the Trinitarian and Incarnational pattern made flesh in Face To Face, a novel of God's love conquering all, won by obedience and suffering, face to face.

In the Epilogue, the novel returns to life in this world of suffering and hope, a life now touched by heaven, where we hear, see and know the "love that moves the sun and other stars."

Face To Face is a beautiful story, rendered on many levels, from the daily interactions of the characters to the deep theological meaning embedded in the text. Sanders' prose does not miss a beat. It is sheer poetry.

Dr. Sanders, who has a Ph.D. in systematic theology, also did graduate work in mathematics and creative writing. He is a sublimely gifted writer and profound thinker. I believe Face To Face will be read, studied and reread for many years. Read it and travel out of the darkness into the heart of light.

Betty Snyder Bedell, is Founding Editor, Kalliope, writer, poet.

Face to Face can be ordered from Borders, Books-A-Million, Barnes and Noble, independent books sellers, and Amazon.com, etc. It is also available from www.xlibris.com/bookstore or 1-888-7954274.

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